Team USA lines up to shake hands with Honduras. (Photo courtesy Kyle Krause)

To be eligible for the 2008 14U National Team players must participate in the USA Baseball 14U National Team Identification Series (NTIS).

The 2008 USA Baseball 14U National Team Identification Series will consist of two identification events featuring a total of 216 players to be held over Labor Day Weekend. The West Coast event will be held at the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., and the East Coast event will held at the Roger Dean Stadium Complex in Jupiter, Fla.

The two sites will each host only six teams and a total of 108 players. Activities will run from August 29-August 31, 2008, with each team playing a total of three nine-inning games over Labor Day Weekend. Each camp will also feature USA Baseball instruction and training and will serve as the exclusive identification tool for the 2008 USA Baseball 14U National Team.

Five of the six teams at each site will be organized on a pay-to-play basis, similar to the USA Baseball 16U Championships (formerly known as the USA Junior Olympic Baseball Championships). Existing baseball programs that have previously entered teams into the 16U Championships will be targeted to fill these slots with entry fees defraying some of the costs of the events and the USA Baseball 14U National Team. As with the 16U Championships, these various baseball programs will be responsible for identifying and selecting 18-player teams that will participate in the event.

Team USA jumps ahead of Nicaragua in front of a sellout crowd. (Photo courtesy Kyle Krause)

Similar to the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars, USA Baseball will select one of the six teams at each site -- an "at-large" team. USA Baseball will rely on its national member organizations, existing events and other entities, as well as its established athlete database to identify players for these two USA Baseball at-large teams. As part of this initiative USA Baseball will encourage the inclusion of all athletes when filling roster spots for the two at-large teams.

How to get involved:

For information on how to get involved with a team in your area, please contact your local club listed below. The teams participating in the 14U NTIS are independent organizations with the ability to conduct team selections at their own discretion. USA Baseball is proud to have these organizations attending this event.

On May 6, 2008 the Confederación Panamericana de Beisbol (COPABE) announced that it has eliminated the rules of juvenile (14U) limitations on the size of athletes. Previously, position players could not stand more than 5'10-7/16" (five feet, 10 and seven-sixteenths of an inch) tall to be eligible to take the field and no more than 5'9-11/16" (five feet, nine and eleven-sixteenths of an inch) to pitch in 14U Pan American events.

The change means that all athletes regardless of height will be allowed to compete in international baseball competition in 2008 and beyond.

COPABE is the continental governing body of baseball in the Americas and is a member of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF).